There have never been more ways to recruit talent, from staffing firms and talent marketplaces to employee referrals and online job postings. All of these tactics fall into two basic approaches—they are either designed to help you recruit inbound (active) candidates or outbound (passive) candidates.

Inbound recruiting is about attracting candidates who are actively engaged with your brand, searching for jobs or open to new opportunities, even though they may not be ready to apply. Examples include people finding you in job search, referrals who apply, career fairs, applications from social recruiting, visitors to your career site.

Outbound recruiting is proactively searching for candidates who are not looking for job opportunities. Contacting people through resume databases or professional networking sites or calling referrals could be considered outbound recruiting.

For years, conventional wisdom has held that targeting passive candidates with outbound tactics provided the best shot at finding great hires, but technology has changed how people manage their careers and look for jobs. Today’s easy, ubiquitous job search technology helps people keep in constant touch with great opportunities, providing talent leaders with ample opportunity to attract inbound candidates more effectively.

Kevin Walker, Director of Employer Insights at Indeed, explains the factors that contribute to this trend, including the science by behind career decision making, in this video.